FONT

SHARE THIS

MORE STORIES

Christine Drazan wins House District 39 Republican primary race

With the win, Drazan will face sole Democratic candidate Elizabeth Graser-Lindsey in the general election

Christine Drazan of Canby pulled ahead of the three other Republican candidates Tuesday to win the Republican nomination in the race for the Oregon House District 39 seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Kennemer. She will now face the sole Democratic candidate Elizabeth Graser-Lindsey of Beavercreek in the November election.

Unofficial results of the May 15 election show Drazan winning the Republican race with 2,540 votes and John Lee trailing her with 1,836 votes. Seth Rydmark came in at 1,043 and Ken Kraft at 1,029. The largely rural HD39 area includes Barlow, Barton, Beavercreek, Boring, Canby, Carus, Charbonneau, Eagle Creek, Estacada, Fischers Mill, Mulino and Redland.

Dozens of families were gathered together at a party to support Drazan on election night.

"I am really humbled by the opportunity to be able to run in the general and potentially serve in the legislature on behalf of the people of this district," Drazan said. "It's exciting and daunting. There's a lot of work to do, but I'm very humbled."

Drazan is running on a platform of improving graduation rates and reforming the state's spending and budgeting process. She has pointed out that reforming PERS is one of the best ways to free up additional resources for schools.

Her opponent, Democratic candidate Graser-Lindsey, a small farmer and former university professor, is focused on "preserving our livability, protecting the environment and reinvigorating the middle class."

"I'm interested in all the issues that the voters are interested in, but those are ones that people resonate with that I talked to," Graser-Lindsey said.

She added, "I just feel really grateful to the voters for supporting my campaign, and I've really enjoyed talking to them as I've been canvassing and meeting them. I look forward to talking to them more about their issues and I'm going to continue to take ahead the issues that I've been talking to them about: the livability, the environment and the middle class."

Drazan also spent time talking with people in the district, and she disagrees that environmental issues are at the forefront of their concerns.

"When I talked to our neighbors at the doors, I didn't hear people talking to me about their concerns about climate change, and issues like that just didn't come up," Drazan said.

"I really think that the issues that are important to the folks in this district are issues that are a little bit more local and a little bit more close to home. I think that the things that we're going to talk about and focus on are the kinds of reforms that provide relief for transportation and improve our schools and keep our taxes low."

Drazan too, looks forward to talking to more people in the district.

"I'm looking forward to hearing from folks in the district, to really just talk to more people and get to know more people," Drazan said, "and represent all the different parts of our district... get out into Redland and Estacada and all the areas that I haven't lived in for the last 18 years."

Kristen WohlersReporter503-263-7512email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.